Chapter 6
Mary Ann stopped just outside the club door, shaking her head. Pietro and Lance joined her.
"What's up with you?" Lance asked.
"The voices. Kill the X-Men."
Lance and Pietro looked at each other. They'd never been ordered to kill the X-Men.
At that moment the pictures of the X-Men flashed through her head again. She turned and looked back toward the club. Scott, Jean, Evan, Kitty, Rogue and Kurt walked out and Mary Ann's face went blank.
By this time everyone else had left the club and the parking lot was empty. Only two cars were left. A black Subaru Outback Legacy and a 2001 red Pontiac Sunfire. The Brotherhood and the X-Men were alone. Pietro felt a shock and quickly let go of Mary Ann's hand.
Electricity crackled around Mary Ann's hands. The balls of electric light in her palms kept growing. Mary Ann held her hands down by her waist. Her fingers were spread toward the ground and thin bolts of lightening were jumping from each fingertip.
At that moment Kurt noticed Mary Ann. He started toward her, seeing that Pietro and Lance had backed away, but Jean stopped him.
"Look. I believe approaching her might be a bad idea right now," Jean said, hand firmly on Kurt's shoulder. Kurt shrugged her hand off but didn't move.
Mary Ann slowly raised her hands above her head. She held her palms toward each other and the electric balls joined with a large flash. The X-Men strung out in a line watching her carefully.
All this time she had her eyes closed, feeling the electricity course through her body. Now she slowly opened her eyes and found her target.
Evan.
Slowly, she brought her hands down in front of her at arms length, palms still toward each other.
"Kill the X-Men" rang through her head. She nodded sharply and a smile grew on her face. They'd never know what hit them.
The person in her line of sight was Evan. Their eyes locked but she knew there was nothing he could do against her. As the ball between her hands grew to the peak of Mary Ann's control she threw her hands out and toward Evan. The electricity soared though the air.
It hit Evan square in his chest and knocked him back into the stairs with a bone crunching sound.
The blast drained Mary Ann almost completely and she slowly sank to her knees. Pietro rushed forward and picked her up before she fell to the ground. He held her in his arms and watch, with some amount of joy, as the X-Men rushed to help their fallen member. Only Kurt remained where he was, staring at Mary Ann, bewildered. Pietro let Mary Ann go when she said she felt strong enough to stand. Her eyes met and locked with Kurt and something in her head exploded as he turned off his holo image.
Mary Ann grabbed her head as memories of the part week came to her in pieces. She was fighting the chemicals in her head with all she had. When she screamed and fell to her knees again both Pietro and Kurt rushed to her side.
"She's not your concern, Blue Boy!" Pietro yelled.
"Yes she is!"
Mary Ann looked from Kurt to Pietro then shook her head continuously. She was so confused. Didn't know what to do. Who to trust. Where to go.
Suddenly, she stood, looked at Kurt for moment, turned and ran through the dark parking lot. Kurt just watched her run. Pietro cursed under his breath and pulled his cell phone and dialed the compound. Mystique answered quickly.
"Mystique," the voice on the other end said.
"Yeah. It's Pietro. Mary Ann just bolted. But she smashed Daniels."
"What!?"
"She totally blaster Daniels."
"I don't care about that! Where is she now?"
"Don't know."
"Damn it Pietro. The chemicals hadn't fully set in yet! She was fragile! Why did you take her out with you?"
"I didn't know! She came willingly."
"You and Lance get back here now. I'll look for her. You've already done enough damage."
"Right."
Pietro winced as Mystique slammed down the phone. He walked over to where Lance was leaning against their car smiling as the X-Men carried Evan back to their own vehicle, quickly.
"Come on. Mystique wants us back now. She's gonna go look for May Ann," Pietro said as he got into the car.
"I don't know why you just didn't go after her," Lance replied as he opened the driver side door and slid in.
"Because I didn't."
"Good enough."
Lance started the car and pulled away. They rode in silence for a while before Lance spoke again.
"She sure does pack some power."
"Yeah. If she gets mad at us we're screwed."
Lance only chuckled a bit and fell silent once again.
Mary Ann stopped quickly as she realized she was lost. She looked around wildly from dark building to dark building. This was one of the more imposing sections of Bayville. There were only a few people standing around outside.
She crossed her arms over her chest and slowly started to walk down the street. This was her home but she had been alienated over the past week.
The homeless people greeted her with wide-eyed stares and opened mouthed expressions. She stopped beside a group around a burning trashcan to warm her hands and was quickly pinched out. She stumbled backward into the gutter and stood there, mind racing. She closed her eyes and was engulfed in memories.
Kurt helping her find her classes.
Her first dinner with the X-Men.
Her meeting with Mystique,
Kurt, Kitty and Scott worrying about her.
The Danger Room.
Professor Xavier.
Kurt.
Her first kiss on the bench. His three fingered hands holding her close.
The silver box.
Mystique.
Lance laughing.
Pietro.
She shook her head and started to walk down the street again. She guessed it must have been one o'clock be the time she finally stopped. She was at the edge of a forest. Not knowing what else to do or where to go she sat down and leaned back against a tree. She wasn't there five minutes before she fell asleep.
Kurt watched in silence as Scott carried Evan into the medical room back at the house. He was followed by Jean and the Professor. As the door slid shut Kurt turned and faced Logan.
"What happened, Kurt?" Logan asked.
Kurt noticed that Logan didn't call him Elf. He lowered his eyes and stared at Logan's feet.
"I don't really know. We all came out of the club to find Mary Ann all charged up. I don't know why she picked Evan. After she seemed to be fighting the brainwashing. Then she ran."
Logan nodded. "No doubt Mystique's out looking her. She's too valuable for Mystique to loose now."
"Can't we use Cerebro to…"
"Only Charles can and he's busy right now."
"Logan please!"
"We can't. Not right now anyway."
"But why?!"
"Go to sleep Kurt. We'll talk about it tomorrow."
"I can't sleep knowing Mary Ann is out there!"
"She can take care of herself."
Kurt stared straight into Logan's eyes. "Not right now she can't," he said with feigned calm.
Logan stared back then his gaze softened. "I'll go look. If you stay here."
Kurt's gaze fell to the floor again before he teleported back up to his room. Logan waited until he was sure Kurt was gone before entering the medical room.
"Charles, I'm going out," Logan said. He looked at Evan, lying unconscious on the table. Jean flutter around him, checking monitors and making sure everything was running smooth. Scoot and Xavier were nearby, watching in silence.
"You're going to look for Mary Ann," Charles stated.
"Yes."
"I wouldn't bother. She's already with Mystique again."
The sun was rising but Mary Ann didn't notice. She only saw the dark figure approaching her. She knew who it was, and didn't move.
When the figure got close enough, Mary Ann stood up.
"You gave us all quite a scare, Mary Ann.,' the figure said. They finally stepped out of the shadows. It was Mystique.
"I'm sorry, Mystique. I don't know what happened," Mary Ann said. Her voice was monotone like she was reciting a boring poem.
"It's alright. Come back home with me."
Mary Ann blinked a few times hen looked at Mystique. Mystique smiled and held out her hand. Mary Ann took it, somewhat reluctantly.
"Good girl."
Mystique pulled a syringe out of her pocket and turned Mary Ann's arm over quickly. Mary Ann screamed and Mystique jabbed the syringe into Mary Ann's pale forearm.
"This will teach you to disobey the Brotherhood," she said.
Mary Ann quickly became weak. She heard Mystique whistle and a car pulled up. It was Lance. Mystique pulled open the back door and tossed Mary Ann in the backseat like a doll. Mystique crawled in next to Lance.
"Drive."
Lance peeled away and headed back toward the compound.
"Do you have to be so rough with her?" he asked once they were on their way. He snuck a look back at Mary Ann who was now sleeping in the back seat.
"She'll never learn if we don't teach her now."
"Teach her what? She's your doll. She'd do any damned thing you want. You don't have to break her to anything."
"Shut up, Lance. One more dose on Monday and she will be my doll. Right now she's still fragile."
"Fine. You're the boss."
"Just shut up, Lance. Shut up."